This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 edition. Excerpt: ...separate readily from the melon under slight pressure to one side. Maturity is usually indicated by a slight exudation of juice around the base of the stem. If gathered too early, they wilt and toughen before mellowing. If allowed to ripen on the vine, they lose in flavor. Cantaloupes bear the male and female organs of reproduction in different flowers, and cross readily if different varieties are planted near each other and hybridize with other species of the melon family. This is especially true of the cucumber. In 1880, I planted four rows with seed of a supposed new and superior variety bought for distribution by the Georgia State Department of Agriculture. These were planted in a two-acre patch of my selected seed. Some vines produced cucumbers, but a large majority were true hybrids and no more fit to be eaten than green gourds. Of course, no seed could be The Best Varieties of Cantaloupes 103 saved from melons grown in that patch. They do not hybridize so readily with the watermelon, but I have seen true hybrids--the melons twice the size of the cantaloupe, partially netted and abnormally large, and the flesh tinged with red, sweet, but without the true cantaloupe flavor. They should not be planted nearer than three hundred yards to other species. Of the green-flesh netted varieties, the Jenny Lind is the earliest. While it is small, the flavor is best and the vines prolific. In form, it is round but flattened at both stem and calyx. It should be gathered while the outside is still green, to secure best flavor. Some of these should be planted as first early. Netted Gem, now generally. known as Rocky Ford, is one of the oldest varieties. This is a small oblong melon, thoroughly netted and of good flavor. This ripens next to Jenny...